Possibly Bay's best

Rating: 3/10 (15 July 2005)

Despite being familiar with Michael Bay's previous work, going into this movie I really wanted to like it. The initial preview was intriguing; the actors were an interesting mix and the visual style (of the preview) was alluring. Once the movie began I was not disappointed, the acting was great throughout the whole movie (with the exception of Hounsou's flat entrance as the stock ex-navy seal turned mercenary) and the style was very reminiscent of the better of the late 70's/early 80's sci-fi movies (e.g. Blade Runner, Logans Run). The story itself, at it's bare bones, is interesting and could have been developed beautifully, the problem is it wasn't. About 45 minutes to one hour into the movie it turned into a surfeit of action that lasted the rest of the movie leaving no room for any further development of plot or characters, but left plenty of room for cheesy one-liners I've come to grudgingly expect from big budget Hollywood movies. The action itself was fairly typical and bland in this era of super-stylized movies (i.e. Kill Bill, House of Flying Daggers, and Sin City) but unlike these movies it isn't anything beautiful to watch and left me fighting off dire boredom. The bottom line: this movie ends up being a typical Hollywood action flick if you like Bay's previous films you will LOVE this movie. If not there is some appeal to this movie and the beginning coruscates quite brightly, but ultimately disappoints.